Vietnam, 2002

Mr. President,

I wish, at the outset, to congratulate Mr. Jan Kavan on

his election to the presidency of the fifty-seventh

session of the United Nations General Assembly. I

would like also to express my high appreciation to his

predecessor, His Excellency Mr. Han Seung-soo of the

Republic of Korea for having efficiently presided over

the deliberations of the fifty-sixth session. Viet Nam

joins others in welcoming the Democratic Republic of

Timor-Leste and the Confederation of Switzerland to

our family of nations.

We come to this session with the remembrance of

the tragic incident of 11 September, when thousands of

innocent lives were lost in the towering inferno caused

by terrorists. Our world has changed a lot since that

day, as Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in his

statement before this body last week, to the effect that

the terrorist attacks of 11 September were not an

isolated event, that they were an extreme example of a

global scourge, one which required a broad, sustained

and global response.

By adopting Security Council resolution 1373

(2001) and General Assembly resolution 56/1, by

enacting and carrying out various measures in different

fields, at national as well as regional levels, the

community of world countries has sent out a very clear

and resolute message: we condemn in the most

categorical terms terrorism under whatever forms

against innocent people, and we will take action under

the Charter of the United Nations, because that must be

the way for our fight to be sustained.

Fighting terrorism does not simply mean bringing

to justice the perpetrators and conspirators, but also

tackling the poverty, injustice, subjugation and illegal

occupation that underlie it. That is to say, while

fighting against terrorism remains high on our agenda,

other issues, notably the resolution of regional conflicts

and the implementation of important development

goals set out in the Millennium Declaration, such as

alleviating poverty, narrowing the gap between the rich

and the poor and development gaps within and among

nations, fighting against HIV/AIDS, drugs, organized

transnational crime, protecting the environment — all

these should not be downgraded or become any less

urgent.

Over the past year, besides efforts against

terrorism, the United Nations took the lead in

organizing a series of important international

conferences, most notably the Monterrey International

Conference on Financing for Development, the Special

Session of the General Assembly on Children, the

World Summit on Food Security and the Johannesburg

World Summit on Sustainable Development, where

concrete measures were adopted in the interests of each

and every nation. The United Nations also continued its

important work on conflict prevention, peace-building

in various parts of the world, including its preparations

for East Timor's independence, and conflict resolution

in Africa and elsewhere. Mention should be made of its

efforts relating to the Peace Agreement between the

Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. The

United Nations and the Secretary-General should be

commended for these significant endeavours.

Even with those achievements, however, the

United Nations is expected to do more. The

Organization must enhance its efforts to help resolve

protracted conflicts, especially those in the Middle

East, by peaceful means and free from intervention and

imposition. In this vein, we reiterate our full support

for the legitimate struggle of the Palestinian people to

exercise their inalienable rights to self-determination

and to live in an independent and sovereign State.

We welcome the dialogue between the

Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the

Republic of Korea and the resumption of talks between

the former and the United States, and we sincerely

hope that they will lead to fruitful conclusions. We

again join other speakers in voicing our concern over

the issue of Iraq, and in welcoming all efforts to defuse

the tension. The acceptance by Iraq of the return of

United Nations weapons inspectors without conditions

gives us some hope that a military attack will be

avoided.

In a world of interdependence, we consider it

even more important to uphold the principle of respect

for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political

independence of States. In this regard, an early end

must be put to the blockades and embargoes that for

decades have been causing immeasurable suffering to

the peoples of Cuba, Iraq, Libya and elsewhere.

As arms races re-escalate in many parts of the

world, the Conference on Disarmament, for four

consecutive years, has not been able to start its

substantive work; we must find a way to break the

deadlock.

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Effective measures to limit and mitigate the

negative impact of globalization on developing

countries need to be formulated and implemented to

ensure equal development opportunities for all nations.

International commitments to raising and maintaining

official development assistance at the level of 0.7 per

cent of gross domestic product, to building an open,

equitable multilateral trading system, to removing

protectionism with a view to facilitating access of

goods from developing countries into developed

markets, to debt relief, and to implementing numerous

principles to protect the global environment including

the principle of common but differentiated

responsibilities, and so on, must be strengthened and

put into action. To accomplish these goals, the United

Nations and its affiliated agencies and organizations,

especially the financial institutions need to strengthen

themselves through the ongoing reform process.

Viet Nam continues to hold the view that this

process should primarily focus on enhancing the role of

the General Assembly and on making the Security

Council more democratic, representative, transparent

and accountable through the expansion of its

membership in both the non-permanent and the

permanent categories. In that connection, we wish to

reaffirm our support for those candidates, such as

India, Japan and Germany, that have the capability to

make major contributions to the work of that important

body.

In South-East Asia, the countries of the

Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) are

determined to strengthen their unity and cooperation in

order to respond to the challenges arising within and

outside the region. The implementation of the Hanoi

Plan of Action, the Initiative for ASEAN Integration

and the Hanoi Declaration on narrowing the

development gap for closer ASEAN integration has

achieved initial encouraging results.

ASEAN has continued to further deepen its

relationship with its dialogue partners as well as other

international institutions and organizations, with a view

to contributing further to peace, stability and

development. Apart from their strong commitment and

enormous efforts devoted to the fight against terrorism,

including the recent signing of the ASEAN-US Joint

Declaration for Cooperation to Combat International

Terrorism, the ASEAN countries are working closely

with China for the early adoption of a declaration on

the conduct of parties in the South China Sea. This is

another positive development towards building a code

of conduct in the South China Sea, as agreed by

ASEAN leaders at the Sixth ASEAN Summit, held in

Hanoi in December 1998, thereby contributing to the

promotion of confidence-building and the resolution of

all disputes by peaceful means.

Consistent with its foreign policy of

independence, sovereignty, openness,

multilateralization and the diversification of its

external relations as well as its desire to be a friend and

reliable partner of all countries striving for

independence, peace and cooperation, Viet Nam has

continued to develop and strengthen its friendships and

multifaceted cooperation with countries in and outside

the region, and with international organizations.

Viet Nam is expediting all necessary procedures to join

the World Trade Organization soon.

The free and democratic general elections held in

May 2002 and the successful conclusion of the first

session of the new National Assembly, with highly

qualified representatives elected to important State,

National Assembly and Government positions for the

2002-2007 term, constitute important events in the

political life of our nation and create a firm foundation

for us to continue the renewal process aimed at

building Viet Nam into a strong country with a

prosperous people and a just, democratic and civilized

society. In striving for those goals, we hope to continue

to enjoy the support and cooperation of all countries

and organizations. For its part, Vietnam pledges to do

its utmost to contribute to the work of the United

Nations.